The Canton advocate. [volume] (Canton, D.T. [S.D.]) 1877-1897, 1887-06-16
A PROFESSIONAL scAPEGoAT."
A Description of the Duties of His PO-
sition-Paid for Being Scoltled.

sition-Paid for Being scolded.
professional scapegoat' does not ap-
pear among the thousands OF occupations
which designate the manner of employ
ment of the inhabitants of this city as
classified in the Philadelphia directory.
More than one man whose name appears
there graced by the simple but compre-
hensive word s'clerk" is, if the truth
were known, fully entitled to classlica-
ton as professional scapegoat. There
is more than one who is paid q substan-
tial salary by large houses for no other
occupation than taking upon his should
ers the blame for all the misdeeds Of tho
establishment and suffering the supposed
loss of his situation at the rata of ten or
a dozen times day, or as much oftener
as occasion may require. Being dis
charged half dozen times day without
once losing his position, and at the same
time being well paid for the peculiar per-
formance, is, indeed, novel idea. This
is how it is done:
A lady makes purchase of several ar
ticles, all of which are to be sent to her
address, as given, before certain hour,
without fail. The following day the GUS
proceeds to ''tear OUT the floor manager
or proprietor, as it may be, because the
goods failed to arrive at the promised
hour. The story is patiently heard, and
the word is passed along for Smith.
Smith makes his appearance with coun-
tenance professionally penitent and sub
missive.
Smith," the manager begins, "you
We're instructed to send this lady's goods
to the address given you before 4 oclock3''
eyes, sir, is Smiths plaintive reply,
"but"-
"Never mind an explanation. l un-
derstand. Your neglect caused the de-
lay and has risked the loss of one Of our
best customers. We can not put up with
your carlessness any longer. You may
go to the office and get your pay Smith
steals away with readymade crestfallen
look upon his face.
Madam, I regret the occurrence of
such an unnecessary blunder, but assure
you it will not happen again; surely not
from that man," and madam takes her
departure fully satisfied that she has had
her revenge,
Another irate customer appears on the
scene. This time the trouble is with a
suit of furniture which had been pur-
chased week before as in perfect order,
but has already begun to show signs of
approaching dissolution. The aggrieved
purchaser opens on the manager, who at
once sends for the "man who takes the
blame' and opens the usual programme.
s'How is this sir? What do you mean
by sending out goods in such condition.
You have been repeatedly told not to per-
NIT any goods to leave your department
unless in perfect order. This is not the
first time this has happened; but it will
be the last. Go to the Office and get your
pay; we have no further use for your
services.
"Madam, I am very sorry that you
should have been so deceived by one of
our statesmen. We can not very well
take back the furniture after it has been
used, but we will send man to your
house to put it in proper shape" and the
lady goes her way satisfied that she has
received justice.
ssThe man who takes the blame" is
next discharged for overcharging in max
ing sale Of silk dress goods. He then
suffers trade of abuse, and is also to 60
because he has sold set Of fine china
without calling the attention of the pur-
chaser to several little defects. And so it
goes from morning to night, day after
day, week in and week out. The poor
the entire establishment, from the mana
ger down to the errand boy.
"Does it pay?" echoed prominent
business man the other day in response to
an inquiry on the subject. ''Well, ]
should say it did. Why, we have a man
who takes the blame for our establish.
ment who is worth Thousands Of dollara
to us every year. We can sell good
many slightly damaged or imperfect
goods which we could not otherwise dis
pose of except at great sacrifice. Then
we save great many good customers
who become displeased about small mat.
ters which are not done just as they like.
1t is a strange but true fact that many
people are satisfied to put up with con.
siderable inconvenience il they can only
be revenged by seeing some one dis.
| charged. Sometimes when we bring out
our man who takes the blame the Gus.
toner ventures to suggest that he is no,
gll0 Ol1e WHO WdlCeu OIl llGIs UuG We tllSSl
| that he is, and the man adds his own as.
sertion, and in nine cases out Of ten the
customer is convinced. Very few people
take enough notice Of salesman tc
| identify him, unless they meet him fre.
quently. I have known some establish.
ments that have employed two or more
| men to take blame in order to facilitate
matters. The funniest part Of the thing
is that our scapegoat man grows fat OF
being scussed. He has indeased from
$50 to 22O pounds in fifteen months, and
smiles so much that we will have 4
change him and get some dyspeptL look.
ing individual III his placs. Philadal
phia Record.
BADLY Ventilated Halls.
| Mr.. Beecher recently declared, Ia 1
lecture at Gateshead, England, that h
never yet had spoken in . hall whe1s
1000 persons could breathe comfortably
! for an hour and = NAH togsthss. Chi
cago Times.